7*rru 


Duke  University  Libraries 

Message  of  the 
Conf  Pam  12mo  #735 


Secret.] 

SENATE,  March  13,  1SG5. — Read  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


MESSAGE  OF  THE  PRESIDENT. 

To  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 

of  the  Confederate  States  of  America  : 

When  informed  on  Thursday  last  that  it  was  the  intention  of  Con- 
gress to  adjourn  sine  die  on  the  ensuing  Saturday,  I  deemed  it  my 
duty  to  request  a  postponement  of  the  adjournment,  in  order  that  I 
might  submit  for  your  consideration  certain  matters  of  public  interest, 
which  are  now  laid  before  you.  When  that  request  was  made,  the 
most  important  measnres  that  bfid  occupied  your  attention  during 
the  session  had  not  been  so  far  advanced  as  to  be  submitted  for  exe- 
cutive action;  and  the  state  of  the  country  had  been  so  materially 
affected  by  the  events  of  the  last  four  mouths  as  to  evince  tin;  neces- 
sity of  further  and  more  energetic  legislation  than  was  contemplated 
in  November  last. 

Our  country  is  now  environed  with  perils  which  it  is  our  duty 
calmly  to  contemplate.  Thus  alone  can  the  measures  necessary  td 
avert  threatened  calamities  be  wisely  devised  and  efficiently  enforced 

Recent  military  operations  of  the  enemy  have  been  successful  in 
the  capture  of  some  of  our  seaports,  in  interrupting  some  of  our 
lines  of  communication,  and  in  devastating  large  districts  of  our  coun- 
try. These  events  have  had  the  natural  effect  of  encouraging  our 
foes  and  dispiriting  many  of  our  people.  The  Capital  of  the  Con- 
federate States  is  now  threatened,  and  is  in  greater  danger  than  it 
has  heretofore  been  during  the  war. 

The  fact  is  stated,  without  reserve  or  concealment,  as  due  to  tin- 
people  whose  servants  we  are,  and  in  whose  courage  and  constancy 
entire  trust  is  reposed  ;  as  due  to  you,  in  whose  wisdom  and  resolute 
spirit  the  people  have  confided,  for  the  adoption  of  the  measures  re- 
quired to  guard  them  from  threatened  perils. 

While  stating  to  you  that  our  country  is  in  danger,  I  desire  also  to 
state  my  deliberate  conviction  that  it  is  within  our  power  to  avert 
the  calamities  which  menace  us,  and  to  secure  the  triumph  of  the 
sacred  cause  for  which  so  much  sacrifice  has  been  made;  so  much 
suffering  endured ;  so  many  precious  lives  been  lost.  This  result  is. 
to  be  obtained  by  fortitude,  by  courage,  by  constancy  in  enduring 
the  sacrifices  still  needed  :  in  a  word,  by  the  prompt  and  resolute  de- 
votion of  the  whole  resources  of  men  and  money  in  the  Confederacy 
to  the  •..'.:.  ■.(;.,,;,,  of  OUi  liberties  and  independence.  The  measures 
now  required,  to  be  successful,  should  be  prompt.  Long  deliberation 
and  protracted  debate  over  important  measures  are  not  only  natural. 


but  laudable  in  representative  assemblies,  under  ordinary  circum- 
stances; but  in  moments  of  danger,  when  action  becomes  urgent,  the 
delay  thus  caused  is  itself  a  new  source  of  peril.  Thus  it  has  unfor- 
tunately happened,  that  some  of  the  measures  passed  by  you  in  pur- 
suance of  the  recommendations  contained  in  my  message  of  Novem- 
ber last,  have  been  so  retarded  as  to  lose  much  of  their  value,  or  have 
for  the  same  reason  been  abandoned  after  being  matured,  because  no 
longer  applicable  to  our  altered  condition  ;  and  others  have  not  been 
brought  under  examination.  In  making  these  remarks,  it  is  far  from 
my  intention  to  attribute  the  loss  of  time  to  any  other  cause  than 
those  inherent  in  deliberative  assemblies,  but  only  urgently  to  recom- 
mend prompt  action  upon  the  measures  now  submitted. 

We  need,  for  carrying  on  the  war  successfully,  men,  and  supplies 
for  the  army.  We  have  both  within  our  country  sufficient  to  obtain 
success. 

To  obtain  the  supplies,  it  is  necessary  to  protect  productive  dis- 
tricts, and  guard  our  lines  of  communication,  by  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  our  forces;  and  hence  its  results,  that  with  a  large  aug- 
mentation in  the  number  of  men  in  the  army,  the  facility  of  sup- 
plying the  troops  would  be  greater  than  with  our  present  reduced 
strength. 

For  the  purchase  of  the  supplies  now  required,  especially  for  the 
armies  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  the  Treasury  must  be  pro- 
vided with  means;  and  a  modification  in  the  impressment  law  is  re- 
quired. It  has  been  ascertained  by  examination  that  we  have  within 
our  reach  a  sufficiency  of  what  is  most  needed  for  the  army,  without 
having  recourse  to  the  ample  provision  existing  in  those  parts  of  the 
Confederacy  with  which  our  communication  has  been  partially  inter- 
rupted by  hostile  operations.  But  in  some  districts,  from  which 
supplies  are  to  be  drawn,  the  inhabitants  being  either  within  the 
enemy's  lines,  or  in  very  close  proximity,  are  unable  to  make  use  of 
Confederate  treasury  notes  for  the  purchase  of  articles  of  prime  ne- 
cessity, and  it  is  necessary  that  to  some  extent  coin  be  paid,  in  order 
to  obtain  supplies.  It  is  therefore  recommended  that  Congress  devise 
the  means  for  making  available  the  coin  within  the  Confederacy,  for 
the  purpose  of  supplying  the  army.  The  officers  of  the  supply  de- 
partments report  that  with  two  millions  of  dollars  in  coin,  the  ar- 
mies in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  can  be  amply  supplied  for  the 
remainder  of  the  year;  and  the  knowledge  of  this  fact  should  suffice 
to  insure  the  adoption  of  the  measures  necessary  to  obtain  this  mo- 
derate sum. 

The  impressment  law,  as  it  now  exists,  prohibits  the  public  officers 
from  impressing  supplies,  without  making  payment  of  the  valuation 
at  the  time  of  impressment.  The  limit  fixed  for  the  issue  of  trea- 
sury notes  has  been  nearly  reached,  and  the  Treasury  cannot  always 
furnish  the  funds  necessary  for  prompt  payment;  while  the  law  for 
raising  revenue,  which  would  have  afforded  means  for  diminishing  if 
not  removing  this  difficulty,  was  unfortunately  delayed  for  several 
months,  mid  has  just  been  signed.  In  this  condition  of  things,  it  is 
impossible  to  supply  the  army,  although  ample  stores  may  exist  in 


the  country,  whenever  the  owners  refuse  to  give  credit  to  the  public 
officer.  It  is  necessary  that  this  restriction  on  the  power  of  impress- 
ment be  removed.  The  power  is  admitted  to  be  objectionable,  liable 
to  abuse,  and  unequal  in  its  operations  on  individuals.  Yet  all  these 
objections  must  yield  to  absolute  necessity.  It  is  also  suggested  that 
the  system  of  valuation  now  established  ought  to  be  radically 
changed.  The  legislation  requires,  in  such  cases  of  impressment, 
that  the  market  price  be  paid;  but  there  is- really  no  market  price 
ill  many  eases,  and  the  Valuation  is  made  arbitrarily  and  in  a  depre- 
ciated currency.  The  result  is  that  the  most  extravagant  prices  are 
fixed,  such  as.no  one  expects  ever  to  be  paid  in  coin.  None  believe 
that  the  government  can  ever  redeem  in  coin  the  obligation  to  pay 
fifty  dollars  a  bushel  for  corn,  or  seven  hundred  dollars  a  barrel  lor, 
flour.  It  would  seem  to  be  more  just  and  appropriate  to  estimate 
the  supplies  impressed  at  their  value  in  coin,  to  give  the  obligation 
of  the  government  for  the  payment  of  the  price  in  coin,  with  reason- 
able interest,  or  at  the  option  of  the  creditor,  to  return  in  kind  the 
wheat  or  corn  impressed,  with  a  reasonable  interest,  also  payable  in 
kind,  and  to  make  the  obligations  thus  issued  receivable  for  all  pay- 
ments due  in  coin  to  the  government.  Whatever  be  the  value  at- 
tached by  Congress  to  these  suggestions,  it  is  hoped  that  there  will 
be  no  hesitation  in  so  changing  the  law  as  to  render  it  possible  to 
supply  the  army,  in  case  of  necessity  tor  the  impressment  of  pro- 
visions lor  that  purpose. 

The  measure  adopted  to  raise  revenue,  though  liberal  in  its  provi- 
sions, being  clearly  inadequate  to  meet  the  arrear  of  debt  and  the 
current  expenditure,  some  degree  of  embarrassment  in  the  manage- 
ment of  the  finances  must  continue  to  be  felt.  It  is  to  be  regretted, 
I  think,  that  the  recommendation  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
of  a  tax  on  agricultural  income,  equal  to  the  augmented  tax  on  other 
incomes,  payable  in  treasury  notes,  was  rejected  by  Congress.  This 
tax  would  have  contributed  materially  to  facilitate  the  purchase  of 
provisions,  and  diminish  the  necessity  that  is  now  felt  for  a  supply  of 
coin. 

The  measures  passed  by  Congress  during  the  session  for  recruiting 
the  army  and  supplying  the  additional  force  needed  for  the  public 
defence,  have  been  in  my  judgment  insufficient,  and  I  am  impelled 
by  a  profound  conviction  of  duty,  and  stio.ulated  by  a  sense  of  the 
perils  which  surround  our  country,  to  urge  upon  you  additional  legis- 
lation on  this  subject. 

The  bill  for  employing  negroes  as  soldiers  has  not  yet  reached  me, 
though  the  printed  journals  of  your  proceeding*  inform  me  ol  its 
passage.  Much  benefit  is  anticipated  from  this  measure,  though  far 
less  than  would  have  resulted  from  its  adoption  at  an  earlier  date,  so 
as  to  afford  time  for  their  organization  and  instruction  during  the 
winter  months. 

The  bill  for  diminishing  the  number  of  exempts  has  just  been 
made  the  subject  of  a  special  message,  and  its  provisions  are  such  as 
would  add  no  strength  to  the  army.  The  recommendation  to  abo- 
lisb  all  class  exemptions  has  not  met  your  favor,  although  still  deemed 


by  me  a  valuable  and  important  measure;  and  the  number  of  men 
exempted  l>v  ;i  new  clause  in  the  act  just  passed  is  believed  to  be 
quite  equal  to  tli;it  of  those  whose  exemption  is  revoked.  A  law  of 
a  few  lines  repealing  ;ill  class  exemptions  would  not  only  strengthen 
the  forces  in  the  field,  but  he  still  more  beneficial,  by  abating  the  na- 
tural discontent  and  jealousy  created  in  the  army  by  the  existence* 
of  classes  privileged  by  law  to  remain  in  places  of  safety,  while  their 

fellow-citizens  are  exposed  in  the  trenches  imd  the  field. 

The  measure  moat  needed,  however,  at  the  present  time  for  afford- 
ing an  effective  increase  to  our  military  strength,  is  a  general  militia 
law,  such  as  the  constitution  authorises  ( longress  to  pa>s,  by  granting 
to  it  power  "  to  ptovide-lor1  organiaiug*. arming  and  disciplining  the 
militia,  and  for  governing  such  part  ol  them  as  may  he  employed  in 
the  service  of,  the  Confederate  states;"  and  the  further  power  "to 
provide  tor  calling  forth  the  militia  to  execute  the  laws  of  the  Coon 
federate  States,  suppress  insurrections  and  repel  invasions."  The  ne- 
cessity for  the  exercise  of  this  power  can  never  exist,  if  not  in  -the 
circumstaiiees  which  now  surround  us. 

The  security  of  the  States  against  any  encroachment  by  the  Con- 
federate government  is  amply  provided  by  the  constitution,  by  "re- 
serving to  the  States,  respectively,  the  appointment  of  the  ofliceis, 
and  the  authority  of  training  the  militia,  according  to  the  discipline 
prescribed  by  Congress*'! 

A  law  is  needed  to  prescribe  not  only  how  and  of  what  persons 
the  militia  are  to  be  organized,  but  to  provide  the  mode  of  calling 
them  out.  If  instances  be  required  to  show  the  necessity  for  sock 
general  law,  it  is  sufficient  to  mention,  that  in  one  case  J  have  been 
informed  by  the  Governor  of  a  State,  that  the  law  does  not  permit 
him  to  call  the  militia  from  one  county  for  service  in  another,  so  that 
a  single  brigade  of  the  enemy  could  traverse  the  State,  ami  devastate 
each  county  in  turn,  without  any  power  on  the  part  of  the  Executive 
to  use  the  militia  for  effective  defence;  while  in  another  State  the 
Executive  refused  to  allow  the  militia  "to  be  employed  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Confederate  States,"  in  the  absence  of  a  law  for  that 
purpose. 

I  have  heretofore,  in  a  confidential  message  to  the  two  Houses, 
.stated  the  facts  which  induced  me  to  consider  it  necessary  that  the 
privilege  of  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus  should  be  suspended.  The 
conviction  of  the  necessity  of  this  measure  has  become  deeper  as  the 
events  of  the  struggle  have  been  developed.  Congress  has  not  con- 
curred with  me  in  opinion.  It  is  my  duty  to  say  that  the  time  ins 
arrived  when  the  suspension  of  the  writ  is  not  simply  advisable  and 
expedient,  but  almost  indispensable  to  the  successful  conduct  of  the 
war.  On  Congress  must,  rest,  the  responsibility  of  declining  to  exer- 
cise a  power  conferred  by  the  constitution  as  a  means  of  public 
safety,  to  be  used  in  periods  of  national  peril  resulting  from  foreign 
invasion.  If  our  present,  circumstances  arc;  not  such  as  were  con- 
templated when  this  power  was  conferred,  I  confess  myself  at  a  loss 
to  imagine  any  contingency  in  which  this  clause  of  the  constitution 
*»'jlJ  not  remain  a  dead  letter. 


With  the  prompt  adoption  of  the  measures  above  recommended, 
and  the  united  and  hearty  co-operation  of  Congress  and  the  people 
in  the  execution  of  the  laws  and  the  defence  of  the  countrv.  we  may 
enter  upon  the  present  campaign  with  cheerful  confidence  in  the  re- 
sult. And  who  can  doubt  the  continued  existence  of  that  spirit  and 
fortitude  in  the  people,  and  of  that  constancy  under  reverses,  which 
alone  are  needed  to  render  our  triumph  secure  ?  What  other  resource 
remains  available  but  the  undying,  uucon(|uerable  resolve  to  be  free? 

It  has  become  certain,  beyond  all  doubt  or  question,  that  wo  must 
continue  this  struggle  to  a  successful  issue,  or  must  make  abjeot  and 
unconditional  submission  to  such  terms  as  it  shall  please  the  con- 
queror to  impose  on  us.  after  our  surrender.  If  a  possible  doubt 
could  exist,  after  the  conference  between  our  commissioners  and  Mr. 
Lincoln,  as  recently  reported  to  you,  it  would  be  dispelled  bv  a  re- 
cent occurrence,  of  which  it  is  proper  that  you  should   be   informed. 

Congress  will  remember  thai  in  the  conference* above  referred  to, 
our  commissioners  were  informed  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  would  not  enter  into  any  agreement  or  treaty  whatever  with 
the  Confederate  States,  nor  with  any  single  State:  that  the  on lv  pos- 
sible mode  of  obtaining  peace  was  by  laying  down  our  arms,  dis- 
banding our  forces,  and  yielding  unconditional  obedience  to  the  laws 
of  the  Tiiited  States,  including  those  passed  for  the  confiscation  of 
our  property,  and  the  constitutional  amendment  for  the  abolition  of 
slavery.  It  will  further  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Lincoln  declared 
that  the  only  terms  on  which  hostilities  could  cease,  were  those 
stated  in  his  message  of  December  last,  in  which  we  were  informed 
th.it  ii;  the 'event  of  our  penitent  submission,  he  would  temper  justice 
with  mercy,  and  that  the  question  whether  we  would  be  governed 
as  dependent  territories,  or  permitted  to  have  a  representation  in 
their  Congress*  was  one  on  which  he  could  promise  nothing,  but 
which  would  be  decided  by  their  Congress,  after  our  submission  had 
been  accepted. 

It  lias  not,  however,  been  hitherto  stated  to  yon,  that  in  the  course 
of  the  conference  at  Fortress  Monroe,  a  suggestion  was  made  by  one 
of  our  Commissioners  that  the  objection  entertained  bv  Mr.  Lincoln 
to  treating  with  the  government  of  the  Confederacy,  or  with  any 
separate  State,  might  be  avoided,  by  substituting  for  the  usual  mode 
of  negotiating  through  Commissioners  or  other  diplomatic  agents,  the 
method  sometimes  employed,  of  a  military  convention,  to  be  entered 
into  by  the  Commanding  Generals  of  the  armies  of  the  two  belli- 
gerents. This  lie  admitted  was  a  power  possessed  bv  him.  though 
it  was  not  thought  commensurate  with  all  the  questions  involved. 
As  he  did  not  accept  the  suggestion  when  made,  he  was  afterwards 
requested  to  reconsider  his  conclusion  upon  the  subject  of  a  suspen- 
sion ot  hostilities,  which  he  agreed  to  do,  but  said  that  he  had  ma- 
turely considered  of  the  plan,  and  had  determined  that  it  could  not 
be  done. 

Subsequently,  however,  an  interview  with  General  Longstreet  was 
asked  for  by  General  Ord,  commanding  the  enemy's  army  of  the 
James,  during  which  General  Longstreet  was  informed  by  him  that 


6 

there  was  a  possibility  of  arriving  at  a  satisfactory  adjustment  of  the 
present  unhappy  difficulties,  by  means  of  a  military  convention  ;  and 
that  if  General  Lee  desired  an  interview  on  the  subject,  it  would  not 
be  declined,  provided  General  Lee  had  authority  to  act.  This  com- 
munication was  supposed  to  be  the  consequence  of  the  suggestion 
above  referred  to,  and  General  Lee,  according  to  instructions,  wrote 
to  General  Grant  on  the  second  of  this  month,  proposing  to  meet 
him  for  conference  on  the  subject,  and  stating  that  he  was  vested 
with  the  requisite  authority.  General  Grant's  reply  staled  that  he 
had  no  authority  to  accede  to  the  proposed  conference;  that  his 
power  extended  only  to  making  a  convention  on  subjects  purely  of 
a  military  character,  and  that  General  Ord  could  only  have  meant 
that  an  interview  would  not  be  refused  on  any  subject  on  which  he 
(General  Grant)  had  the  right  to  act. 

It  thus  appears  that  neither  with  the  Confederate  authorities  nor 
the  authorities  of  any  State,  nor  through  the  Commanding  Generals, 
will  the  Government  of  the  United  States  treat  or  make  any  terms 
or  agreement  whatever  for  the  cessation  of  hostilities.  There  remains 
then  for  us  no  choice  but  to  continue  the  contest  to  a  final  issue — 
for  the  people  of  the  Confederacy  can  be  but  little  known  to  him 
who  supposes  it  possible  they  would  ever  consent  to  purchase,  at  the 
cost  of  degradation  and  slavery,  permission  to  live  in  a  country  gar- 
risoned by  their  own  negroes,  and  governed  by  officers  sent  by  the 
conqueror  to  rule  over  them. 

Having  thus  fully  placed  before  you  the  information  requisite  to 
enable  you  to  judge  of  the  state  of  the  country,  the  dangers  to 
which  we  are  exposed,  and  the  measures  of  legislation  needed  for 
averting  them,  it  remains  for  me  but  to  invoke  your  attention  to  the 
consideration  of  those  means  by  which,  above  all  others,  we  may 
hope  to  escape  the  calamities  that  would  result  from  our  failure. 
Prominent  above  all  others  is  the  necessity  for  earnest  and  cordial  co- 
operation between  all  departments  of  government,  State  and  (Joule- 
derate,  and  all  eminent  citizens  throughout  the  Confederacy.  To  you 
especially,  as  Senators  and  Representatives,  do  the  people  look  for  en- 
couragement and  counsel.  To  your  action,  not  only  in  legislative  halls, 
but  in  your  homes,  will  their  eyes  be  turned  for  the  example  of  what 
is  befitting  men  who,  by  willing  sacrifices  on  the  altar  of  freedom, 
show  that  they  are  worthy  to  enjoy  its  blessings.  I  feel  full  confi- 
dence that  you  will  concur  with  me  in  the  conviction  that  your 
public  duties  will  not  be  ended  when  you  shall  have  closed  the  legis- 
lative labors  of  the  session,  but  that  your  voice  will  be  heard,  cheer- 
ing and  encouraginii  the  people  to  that  persistent  fortitude  which 
they  have  hitherto  displayed,  and  animating  them  by  the  manifesta- 
tion of  that  serene  confidence  which  in  moments  of  public  danger  is 
the  distinctive  characteristic  of  the  patriot  who  derives  courage  from 
his  devotion  to  his  country's  destiny,  and  is  thus  enabled  to  inspire 
the  like  courage  in  others. 

Thus  united  in  a  common  and  holy  cause,  rising  above  all  selfish 
considerations,  rendering  all  our  means  and  faculties  tributary  to  the 


country's  welfare,  let  us  bow  submissively  to  the  divine  will,  and 
reverently  invoke  the  blessing  of  our  Heavenly  Father,  that  as  he 
protected  and  guided  our  sires  when  struggling  in  a  similar  cause,  so 
he  will  enable  us  to  guard  safely  our  altars  and  our  firesides,  and 
maintain  inviolate  the  political  rights  which  we  inherited. 

JEFFERSON  DAVIS. 
Richmond,  Va.,  March  13,  186-5. 


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peprmlife® 
PH  8.5 


